Old equipment disposal - Free companies?

[russdev]

No transfer does get you out of it same as selling your car you sign log book over.

 

As long as on form it says "person named above takes sole responsibility of item including but not limited to correct disposal of item" there is also another legal term which we are just finding out.

 

Form is signed by all parties you are voided of liability only thing would dpa.

 

But will be able to tell you in few weeks as we are getting lea legal bod's to confirm lot of this.

 

Russell

[garthsmojo]

Transfer of ownership does not get you out of your legal resposibility with regard to end of life, weee or data protection.

By that argument, it is the manufacturer who is going to catch the fine if I sling my old tat into a skip. All they did was transfer the ownership to me, after all.

 

Do you have a reference for your statement?

 

All these only apply once an item is deemed no longer useful to you. It does not apply to a new product or to a product that has benn refurbished and resold by an asset management company.

 

The following is taken from the DEFRA website.

 

"What is the duty of care?

 

The Duty of Care is set out in section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and associated regulations. It applies to anyone who is the holder of controlled waste.

 

Persons concerned with controlled waste must ensure that the waste is managed properly, recovered or disposed of safely, does not cause harm to human health or pollution of the environment and is only transferred to someone who is authorised to receive it. The duty applies to any person who produces, imports, carries, keeps, treats or disposes of controlled waste or as a broker has control of such waste. "

 

And i am affraid as a producer of waste, i.e IT equipment under WEEE, then this applies to all educational establishments. Even if you ring a number out of the yellow pages you still have a duty of care to ensure that you took reasonable steps to ensure that the items will not be fly tipped. This could be just as simple as asking what they do with it and checking maybe one level down the chain to ensure that this is true, Or ensuring that they have waste tranfer notes or waste carrier licenses.

[garthsmojo]

No transfer does get you out of it same as selling your car you sign log book over.

 

As long as on form it says "person named above takes sole responsibility of item including but not limited to correct disposal of item" there is also another legal term which we are just finding out.

 

Form is signed by all parties you are voided of liability only thing would dpa.

 

But will be able to tell you in few weeks as we are getting lea legal bod's to confirm lot of this.

 

Russell

 

No piece of paper can get you out of duty of care. You have the responsibilty to ensure that within your reasonable control you must ensure the correct disposal of all waste, end of life or discarded materials.

Selling them on ebay or giving them to some bloke on free cycle does not do this. The only ways of legal disposing of IT equipment is to donate it to a charity group, sell it to a company/ asset management (not end user), or pay a registered waste carrier to take it away. Anything else is in one way or another leaving you open to fines and legal action.

 

I worked at a university that was fined a total of £15,000 because someone in the nursing department decided to get a guy with a van to come and clear out a cupboard of IT equipment. This equiment later turned up in a country lane complete with asset tags. After a lengthy investigation the university was found guilty for not having a disposal policy that all staff knew about.

 

A quick call to the environment agency on 08708 506 506 will confirm this.

[russdev]

But and this is big but if you transfer owernship of item to said party they become owner and then they have duty of care given to them as new owners of the item.

 

Anyway as said will know one way or another in about week when we have legal bods look at I will post result here.

[ITWombat]

@garthsmojo

 

There has to be more to it than that. If a seller is liable for damaged/harm caused any faulty equipment sold "as is" then surely car boot sales and the sale of antique machinery/electronics would be banned. You couldn't sell a dilapidated house even if the buyer accepted the need for restorative building work.

 

Much of industry and commerce would grind to halt if the sale of second hand equipment was banned even if the seller could prove that they did not attempt to deceive the buyer.

[garthsmojo]

Sales of any item be it a house, car or computer are all covered by the sales of goods act. You are not liable for anything if it is treated as a trade sale ie an old house sold to a builder for refurbishment or PC's sold to a asset recovery company. If however you sell a dilapidated house to someone as an end user for the purpose of them living in it and it colapses with them in it, then i am affraid it is not fit for purpose and you are liable.

 

It is the same with PC's. A shop or market stall will have public liability insurance for the sale of electrical goods. You as a school will have public liability insurance but in most cases this will not cover you for the sale of goods as this is not a normal function of a school. You also have a DUTY OF CARE to your students not to give or sell them an item that may harm them.

 

As for car boots etc if your the type of person who buys a £100 car off the side of the road and hopes it's not going to kill them on the way home, then you are the type of person who will buy a video off the car boot with no come back when it sets on fire. In both these cases the person who sold you the items are liable for your damages but you will have to find them. In your case you can't move the school to a new site to avoid being found by the agrieved.

[rush_tech]

Does anybody know of a Recycling company in Nottingham\midlands thats free we have used PCB-Plus in the past but can't get hold of them now.

Thanks in advance

[rush_tech]

Managed to get in contact with PCB

I did get other quotes to recycle them £350 and £295 +VAT

 

PCB-Plus will Recycle them if you have a "Producer of Hazardous Waste Certificate" and with a charge of £15

[leon]

I always use Electrical Reclaim. They're free, WEEE compliant and friendly...

 

http://www.electricalreclaim.net/index.html.htm

 

They pickup anywhere between York and Oxford (depending on what it is you're getting rid of)...